Ornithology

The FHSM Ornithology Collection currently contains over 5,000 specimens, with approximately 4,500 stuffed skins and over 500 osteological specimens. The collection was started by Dr. Chuck Ely in the 1960’s. Dr. Ely added thousands of specimens over the course of the next few decades, mostly important voucher specimens from the Great Plains and representatives of groups from throughout the world. Dr. Greg Farley took over as Curator in the mid 1990’s, and as an Ornithologist and Behavioral Ecologist, he and his students added very few skins over the next few decades. However, Dr. Farley and his students made significant contributions to the osteology collection during his tenure as Curator, salvaging hundreds of specimens to be skeletonized and used by Ornithologists and Paleontologists for a variety of research purposes. In 2001, Dr. Elmer Finck joined Dr. Farley and has continued contributing to the collection ever since. Dr. Finck is currently the Curator of Ornithology at FHSM.